Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 615 "The Thieves"

The snails and mussels began to produce mud, and the reed buds emerged, and the breath of spring was already very strong.

On the banks of the Huai River, six hundred cavalrymen belonging to the Loyalty Army began to cross the river.

He Kui threw away the ax in his hand and cut trees with the soldiers all day, he was tired.

In the blink of an eye, the cavalry flew away like tired birds returning home, and the ferry returned to calm again.

He Xi leaned against the crude watchtower.In this moment of tranquil setting sun, the mountains and rivers shrouded in white clouds are like a fairyland far away from the mortal world, and the leisurely evening meal is erratic.

It seems that I am really tired and my eyes are blurred!He Qu shook his head, obviously he was in a war, but he felt poetic and picturesque.

After five years of martial arts, won't he become the same as those hairy awls?Hearing that some martial arts students who have studied for ten years still write poems in their spare time, He Qu shuddered, feeling a little unreal.

"Donglu Yicongjun has conquered Yincheng (near Shangcheng County today)." Li Lin walked over, blowing the evening wind, and said, looking at the sergeant who was happily cooking mussels.

"Can the food and grass be seized?" He Qu asked.

"How do I know?" Li Lin shook his head and said, "The direction of Ying and Shou is extremely empty, I don't know which direction they will rush in."

"Go wherever there is food." He Kui slashed down with his right hand and said viciously, "Turn it upside down."

"The main thing is to kill the enemy." Li Lin disagreed: "What's the use of occupying so many places? Can it be defended? It is true to destroy the bandit army. The more you kill, the weaker the bandit army will be. Take it easy."

"That's right." He Wei thought about the scene of the broken beam, and the blood in his chest was surging, wishing to fly to the north bank of the Huai River to fight now.It's a pity that the main force of the army is still in Shenzhou, more than 30 miles away, and they have to continue to guard the pontoon bridge.

The West Route Army was building a pontoon bridge, and the East Route Army was also building a pontoon bridge, and their actions were more radical. The envoy of the Yi Cong Army, Mei Zang Jieming, took [-] soldiers from Hengshandu to cross Hebei first, and entered Baoxin County, Caizhou (now Xinyang Baoxin Town, Xixian County, City).

On the south bank of the Huai River, the [-] people from the Qingtang Capital are still slowly on their way with their luggage team.

Chen Suxi fell from the sky and has been appointed governor of Gwangju.However, he did not stay in Zhoucheng, but collected grain and grass in the newly conquered Yincheng County, rectified the surrendered troops, and prepared to go south.

It only took one day for the Xia army to capture Yincheng County, but it didn't take much hard work.The defenders in the city surrendered after a little resistance. There were a total of [-] people, all of whom were incorporated into Chen Su's team.

Lao Chen had already regarded Gwangju as his territory, so he sent people to Gushi County (now the county) to persuade him to surrender, while he himself went south with a team that had swelled to nearly 3000 people, and went to defend Muling Pass.

Muling Pass is located on Muling Mountain (in the area of ​​Tongbai Mountain and Dabie Mountain), and is the main passage between Guang and Huang.

From the map, Shenzhou and Guangzhou are located in the south of Huaihe River, north of Tongbai Mountain and Dabie Mountain, sandwiched between mountains and rivers, with flat terrain and many rivers.

An and Huang states face each other across the mountain.

Shen and Anjian take Pingjingguan, Baiyanguan and Lishanguan as the main passages, while Guangjian and Huangjian have Dahuoguan (Dashengguan), Baishaguan, Mulingguan, Yinshanguan and Dingchengguan from west to east. Channels, of which Mulingguan is the main road, can reach Macheng County, Huangzhou in the southeast, and Huanggang County, Lisuo, Huangzhou in the southwest.

There were no soldiers in Wuguan, but after Huangzhou was taken by Yang Xingmi, soldiers were stationed here, mainly the local peasants who were recruited temporarily.A part of the meeting ran away, and there were still 2000 people left and right. Chen Su knew how powerful he was, so he immediately brought the money and silk seized from Dingcheng, Yincheng and other places, distributed them to the defenders, and recruited them to surrender.

In this way, his army expanded to 5000 people, and the speed of the expansion of the army was unimaginable: when he first left Xiangyang, there were only one thousand Chen family tribes, and he recruited a thousand people in Anzhou. Handing over a thousand state and county soldiers who were captured to him, he will take in another two thousand township braves, just like blowing up balloons.

The number has increased, but the composition of the troops is complicated, and people believe that they must be rectified.

Chen Su reorganized 5000 people into ten infantry battalions, six battalions of soldiers, and four battalions of auxiliary soldiers. The nephews of Chen's family were the main officers, and the trilogy was also divided into battalions to control the troops.

Then the troops were divided into Baisha Pass and Yinshan Pass, with 3000 troops stationed in each, and the main force of [-] people stationed at Muling Pass. While training, they stared at the south.

I don't know what the imperial court did. Shenzhou and Guangzhou did not share boundaries with Huainan and Eyue in terms of geography and folk customs. As a result, Shenzhou was allocated to Eyue Town, and Guangzhou was allocated to Huainan Town.

Huaixi Town, which governed the six prefectures of Shen, Guang, Cai, Shou, Tang, and An, was also a bit confusing. The geography and folk customs of the first five prefectures are similar, so it is understandable to group them together, but you are separated by Tongbai Mountain, and the three passes of Pingjing It's a little strange that Anzhou in the south is also drawn in.

But Chen Su didn't bother to care about it anymore. The people in Guangzhou were all Cai people, and they couldn't get together with Huai people, otherwise they wouldn't have separated themselves.Now it is just time to take advantage of this emotion, and then pull on King Xia's tiger skin, and twist the 5000 people under him into a rope to prevent the Huai people from attacking.

Yes, Chen Su's task was to guard his lair, neither Niu Li nor Wu Zang Jieming expected the mob under him to fight the Liang people.

The main threats to the lair come from two directions, one is Shouzhou and Zhu Quanzhong's territory in the east, and the other is Huangzhou and Yang Xingmi's territory in the south.

The threat from the east is not great. Shouzhou's military strength has been exhausted in recent years, and it has also experienced internal turmoil. The governor Jiang Congxu succeeded to the throne as a young man, but he could not completely control the Shouzhou army. It is difficult to make any substantive actions under the control of the sent people.

But the threat to the south is very real.Huai general Qu Zhang has more than [-] soldiers, and he has been engaged in low-intensity battles with Du Hong recently. If he fails to keep the balance, he will suddenly go north, break through the five passes, and enter the border of Guangzhou.After all, Gwangju is the state under the jurisdiction of the Huainan Jiedushi, and it is only natural for Lao Yang to fight over him.

Huai thief, don't come here, my throne of governor is not warm yet.

……

Cui Hong arrived in Xincai County weakly.

He has more than [-] soldiers under his command, except for a few hundred former subordinates, most of them are newly recruited.

Although the Cai people are brave and brave, everyone agrees that it is good to use it.But for those who have just been recruited, they are not even familiar with each other. Some people don't even know how to read the Golden Drum Banner. What can you expect?
After arriving in the city to collect food, grass and arrows, Cui Hong asked to go to the city to camp, but was directly rejected.

The county magistrate is Pei Di's man, and Pei Di is deeply appreciated and trusted by Zhu Quanzhong, so he is not afraid of a plucked phoenix like Cui Hong at all.

Cui Hong was trembling with anger, and the sergeants shouted curses outside the city.It just rained and the field is wet, you let us live outside?There were people clamoring on the spot, but they were suppressed by Cui Hong.

He silently led the troops to the south and arrived at the north bank of Rushui to deploy defenses.

"Master Yang is here, and this group of Mao Zhuizi are very arrogant."

"General Cui is still too talkative, why not go into the city, kill the dog official, and let everyone go to the Huai people."

"Aren't you stupid? There are Huai people in the south of Huai River? Most of them have been taken by the Xia thief."

"Don't talk about the Xia thief! If we can't vote for the Huai people, we can only vote for the Xia people and keep our mouths shut."

"In the past few years, tell me, how did the Bian people bully us Cai people? Qin Zongquan died, Guo Fan died, General Cui was dismissed again, and he became some kind of Ruzhou defense envoy. He might not even know where the yamen is. I can't find it, it's just annoying."

"It's nothing to be a soldier and fight with your head and your life. But what's the name of Ruzhou's fight against the Xia people? The Tutuan villagers conscripted waves, and after more than a year, the family's land was desolate. , I went home and saw that the mother-in-law had a big belly."

"Haha! Back then, Guozhong's wife, Mrs. Pei, was pregnant by sympathy in a dream. Huang Dalang, you are also like this? Did you dream?"

Yang Guozhong was sent as an envoy to Jiangsu and Zhejiang.His wife missed him deeply and became ill.Suddenly, Meng and Guozhong made friends and became pregnant.When the loyal envoy of Ji Zhiguo returned, his wife told him what happened in his dream.Guozhong said: "This is because husband and wife miss each other, and their emotions come to the fore."

Regarding Yang Guozhong's matter, colleagues have only one comment: Green! "Don't be ashamed."

Cui Hong coughed loudly, and the sergeants stopped talking and looked at him.

Looking at the eyes of the sergeants, Cui Hong's heart skipped a beat, feeling a little bad.

Cai Ren has a rough temperament and is aggressive and ruthless. If he has been trained in the army for several years, he will be fine if he knows the rules, and he is relatively obedient.

Damn, don't say that the sergeants are dishonest these days, they kill generals and rebel at every turn, and the common people are also dishonest!
In this regard, Henan and Hebei are particularly prominent.

Many people say that it is easy to be obedient and easy to recruit honest farmers from the field, but the question is, are they really honest?I dare not say about other places, and Cui Hong has never been there, but as far as the Huaixi area is concerned, it is really dishonest!
"Cough...you will be rewarded with wine and meat today." Cui Hong swallowed back what he wanted to say, and ordered the food officer to take out some of the only wine and meat to share.

This was originally used to boost morale before the battle, but now it seems that it has to be used first, otherwise I'm afraid it won't be able to appease these killers.

After returning to the tent covered in sweat, the general quietly followed in and reported: "General, Cui Xiu is here again."

"This guy, aren't you afraid of death?" Cui Hong felt a little bit of a toothache. Last time Cui Xiu came, and he had nothing else to do but persuade him to surrender.

Cui Hong was a little tempted, but felt that the time was not yet ripe, so he refused.

Zhu Quanzhong's shadow loomed over his head like a mountain.

So many soldiers and horses of Qin Zongquan were wiped out. How could they dare to rebel before being cornered?
"Send him away, see you!" Cui Hong said irritably, waving his hands.

The general stood still and reminded: "General, Cui Xiu knows some people in the army and is having a drink with them."

Cui Hong was furious when he heard this: "Are you dead? Why didn't you stop me?"

Cui Xiu was originally from Caizhou. He was born as a "handsome thief" and had a very wide network of contacts on the ground in Caizhou.

As for why a "handsome thief" has such a large social network, it is because Caizhou has many handsome thieves and many thieves.

Former governor of Shenzhou (self-proclaimed) Cui Xiu, governor of Qizhou (self-proclaimed) Feng Jingzhang, Huainan Jiedushi (self-appointed) Sun Ru, Wu'an Army Jieduliu (self-appointed) Liu Jianfeng, Jiangling Yamen general Xu Cun, Qianzhong Yamen General Wang Jianzhao, former Shannan Dongdao Jiedu envoy Zhao Dezhen, etc., are all from Caizhou, all are handsome thieves!
The aspirations of the people in Caizhou are very lofty. Either serve as soldiers to eat food, or rebel as thieves. Farming and grazing are only a means of making a living temporarily, not a long-term solution.And Cui Xiu, as a prestigious big brother in "Thieves", is it strange that he knows many people?

"Call Cui Xiu over." Cui Hong said helplessly.

He faintly felt that the sergeant under him might not be safe, and it was not an option to delay at this time, it is better to face it proactively, so as not to be killed in a daze.

If you want to blame, you can only blame Liang Wang for being too cruel to the Cai people, and he conscripted troops every three days.It would be fine if you put all the people in the government army. To serve as a soldier to eat food and to work hard for one’s life, Cai people still understand this simple truth, and they will not say anything. blame others.

But you sent people away when you ran out, and there were not many rewards, which made everyone very unhappy.

In history, Zhu Quanzhong has also been constantly consuming Cai people, and he may be really worried about this "thief's nest".In the second year of Guanghua (899), Liu Rengong led an army to attack Weibo, and the Jiedu envoy Luo Shaowei asked for help. Cui Hong defected to Yang Xingmi, and Zhu Quanzhong had no choice but to send his eldest son Zhu Youyu to town Caizhou to rectify it vigorously.

In this time and space, Cai people have also been conscripted repeatedly, with great grievances.

Cui Hong sensed this smell keenly, and felt apprehensive and uneasy. In addition, he also had resentment in his heart, so he was willing to listen to Cui Xiu's offer.

At worst, it's nothing more than rebellion, it's a trivial matter!

　The second should be at night, with more work.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)